Can Hong Kong’s freewheeling Apple Daily survive national security crackdown? Bleak days ahead with arrests, financial strain and a pro-Beijing camp keen to see it perish

Second asset freeze on Thursday alongside arrests of tabloid’s top management could mark end of the road for showpiece publication of jailed media tycoon Jimmy Lai

Some observers argue however that there is no basis to outlaw the paper, founded in 1995, and it has played an important role in the city’s media and social landscape

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Staff of Apple Daily in their Tseung Kwan O office. Photo: Sam Tsang

Published: 10:04pm, 17 Jun 2021Updated: 10:55pm, 17 Jun 2021

The fate of Hong Kong’s Apple Daily is hanging in the balance after Thursday’s crackdown by national security police on its top leadership and a further freeze of assets that could send it over the edge financially, analysts have predicted.

Apart from the arrests of its editor-in-chief and four other senior executives under the security law, police also froze the assets of three related companies – Apple Daily Limited, Apple Daily Printing Limited and AD internet Limited – amounting to HK$18 million (US$2.32 million).

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Apple Daily editor-in-chief, 4 newspaper directors arrested under Hong Kong national security law

With its leadership hobbled by the arrest and its finances under severe strain, analysts said its listed parent company, Next Digital, had to raise enough money to stay afloat in the coming months. For example, the 1,300 employees on its Hong Kong payroll accounted for the lion’s share of staff costs at HK$920 million (US$118 million) as of March last year.

“It is a serious matter if it breaches the national security law,” Gordon Tsui Luen-On, chairman of the Hong Kong Securities Association, said. “The arrests of senior personnel and the freezing of assets will affect operations and management, incurring high risks for the listed company.”

Apple Daily executive editor-in-chief Lam Man-chung said the tabloid, headquartered at Tseung Kwan O, would soldier on despite the mounting odds.

Next Digital suspended its share trading on Thursday before the markets opened. The stock was last traded at 29 HK cents, with the company valued at HK$764.5 million, as of Wednesday.